2018 Gent-Wevelgem, Deinze › Wevelgem (251.1k) - March 25

[Netserk]

What do you do if Stybar gets away with Greg and Sep? Just hope that everything would come back together?

 

[SHAD0W93]

Would they work with Greg though?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re:

What do you do if Stybar gets away with Greg and Sep? Just hope that everything would come back together?

Then Stybar can wheelsuck his way to the finishline and be assured of at least a second place, and this is only in case that Sagan, Demare, Naesen (or their helpers if they had any left)... didn't do the work for them, bringing the group back together, tiring everybody else, except them. Van Avermaet and Van Marcke would have slashed their chances in half if the group came back, and that happening would also have been at the expense of the other teams leading the chase.

Even if they had their entire team in the bunch and could lead out Viviani in optimal conditions, you are never sure you are going to win that sprint against Demare and Sagan. Now, they had the numbers and didn't use that to their advantage.

 

[Leinster]

If the lead group goes to surge-stop-surge, then Kristoff and the 2 Astanas (who got within 20s or so before PhilGil got on the front, iirc) and possibly even the group behind them with Degenkolb could have got back on. If one of them could have got away alone, a la Terpstra in Roubaix 14, then yes, that’s ideal, but almost any other 1 v 1 or 1 v 2 matchup in the group (Stybar, Gilbert or Lampaert v any of Sagan, GVA, Matthews, Demarre, Debuschere, Stuyven, etc) is no more likely a win for QuickStep than Viviani vs all of them, probably less so.

Also, Viviani’s probably not going to Roubaix, or RVV, or the Ardennes. Maaaaaybe Amstel. This was probably the team’s last chance to give him a big classic win this season (at least until Paris-Tours). Even if one of the other 3 could have worked out something, I have to give credit to QS for backing Viviani, and sticking to the plan. Maybe there is still some room for sentiment in cycling?

 

[B_Ugli]

Re: 2018 Gent-Wevelgem, Deinze › Wevelgem (251.1k) - March 2

Viviani is a pratt. He lost the race by over a bike length - Sagan beat him convincingly.

Dont really get all this beating of handlebars and behaving like he has 'just' lost the race by a mm. He was way off it and then to cry like a baby afterwards - come on man get a life.

They should ban this whole thumping the bars nonsense on 2nd placers and hit them with a 500,000 euro fine for it.

Say what you will of Cavendish but at least he finished the job off and didn't get himself boxed in like an Amateur.

 

[Leinster]

Re: 2018 Gent-Wevelgem, Deinze › Wevelgem (251.1k) - March 2

Viviani is a pratt. He lost the race by over a bike length - Sagan beat him convincingly.

Dont really get all this beating of handlebars and behaving like he has 'just' lost the race by a mm. He was way off it and then to cry like a baby afterwards - come on man get a life.

They should ban this whole thumping the bars nonsense on 2nd placers and hit them with a 500,000 euro fine for it.

Say what you will of Cavendish but at least he finished the job off and didn't get himself boxed in like an Amateur.

Except at the 2016 Worlds when Cav followed the wrong wheels and banged his bars crossing the line after finishing 2nd to Sagan.

https://youtu.be/969bs3o0XgM?t=1h34m54s

(Bonus points in the overhead replay for Tommeke giving his bars a thump too).

 

[loge1884]

@Leinster

Doha could have been designed by Scheldemerckx ... once the latter missed the front train, there was a 95% chance of Cavendish winning it, especially if the group would stay together till the end ... so in that sense I understand the frustration as in "I fç%& it up" ...
Viviani's odds in GW were significantly lower, even in the group which made it to the final line ... he's a good sprinter, no doubt, but definitely not a league of his own (like Kittel or Cav on a better day) ..

as long as there is no danger to other riders, I don't mind the bar banging thing ... if you were to penalize those riders severely, Julian Alaphilippe perhaps would meanwhile be banned for life ....

 

[vedrafjord]

Re:

Late to the party, but why didn't Quickstep send one or two guys out? They had the numbers. Either they stayed ahead, or they would have served the other helpers in the bunch up, still having two (or three) guys left to bring Viviani in case of a sprint... Not sure it would have made a difference, seeing as it turned out the way it did (they didn't even manage to bring Viviani with 4 guys leading out), but i was wondering why they didn't take control.

Somewhere between the 2001 Paris-Roubaix, where three Domo-Farm Frites riders crushed George Hincapie into a fine paste, and 2015, when three Etixx-Quick Step riders (and some of the strongest classics riders in the world) cancelled each other out and handed it to Ian Stannard, absolute basic knowledge seemed to be lost.